The present invention relates generally to safety equipment for elevators and, in particular, to safety equipment for a multimobile elevator group, which prevents collisions between several elevators operating in one shaft.
A elevator plant with several shafts, in which several vertically and horizontally automotive passenger transport equipments can operate in the same shaft, has become known from the European patent application EP 0 595 122 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,072). Each car can travel horizontally from one shaft to another shaft and is provided with an individual drive, for example with a friction wheel drive, the friction and guide wheels of which roll along in the shaft corners. Each car furthermore comprises an independent control for the management of the car calls or destination calls, for which purpose the distance from a car, which is possibly situated above or below, is measured. Moreover, a conventional car-catching device is provided at the lifting carriage of the car as protection against excess speed or in the case of crash.
In the case of the afore-described equipment, only safety equipments for excess speed or faulty operation of a car are provided. In the case of an emergency stop or also for a normal floor stop of a car, it cannot be ensured whether further cars, which are situated above or below in the same shaft, can still stop in time in order to avoid a collision.